book series

After the Car

By: Kingsley Dennis and John Urry

It is difficult to imagine a world without the car, and yet that is
exactly what Dennis and Urry set out to do in this provocative new
book. They argue that the days of the car are numbered: powerful
forces around the world are undermining the car system and will
usher in a new transport system sometime in the next few decades.
Specifically, the book examines how several major processes are
shaping the future of how we travel, including:

Global warming and its many global consequences

Peaking of oil supplies

Increased digitisation of many aspects of economic and social
life

Massive global population increases

The authors look at changes in technology, policy, economy and
society, and make a convincing argument for a future where, by
necessity, the present car system will be re-designed and
re-engineered.

Yet the book also suggests that there are some hugely bleak
dilemmas facing the twenty first century. The authors lay out what
they consider to be possible 'post-car' future scenarios. These
they describe as 'local sustainability', 'regional warlordism' and
'digital networks of control'.

After The Car will be of great interest to planners,
policy makers, social scientists, futurologists, those working in
industry, as well as general readers.

Some have described the 20th Century as the century of the car.
Now that century has come to a close – and things are about
to change.

Hardcover

Status

Available

Edition

First
Edition

ISBN

9780745644219

ISBN10

074564421X

Publication Dates ROW:

May 2009

Publication Dates US:

Jun 2009

Publication Dates Aus & NZ:

May 2009

Format

218 x 148 mm
8.55 x 5.80 in

Pages

180
pages

Paperback

Status

Available

Edition

First
Edition

ISBN

9780745644226

ISBN10

0745644228

Publication Dates ROW:

May 2009

Publication Dates US:

Jun 2009

Publication Dates Aus & NZ:

May 2009

Format

209 x 139 mm
8.22 x 5.46 in

Pages

180
pages

E-book

Status

Available

Edition

First
Edition

ISBN

9780745658735

ISBN10

0745658733

Publication Dates ROW:

May 2013

Publication Dates US:

May 2013

Publication Dates Aus & NZ:

May 2013

Format

229 x 152 mm
9.02 x 5.98 in

Pages

224
pages

* Exam copies only available to lecturers for whom the book may be suitable as a course text.Please note: Sales representation and distribution for Polity titles is provided by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

"Dennis and Urry show us how to do social science: how
to move effortlessly between the macro and the micro,how to
integrate problem spaces we once thought incommensurate, how to
understand how we got to where we are and where we might be
going."Journal of Sociology

"Dennis and Urry exhibit a refreshing understanding of the sheer
inefficiency and inconvenience of cars."Lynsey Hanley, The Guardian

"One great aspect of this book is that it manages to build some
possible and realistic view of the future without neglecting its
unpredictability. After the Car is a very inspiring book
that we would recommend to all people interested in the future of
transportation systems – especially those convinced by the
importance of carfree perspectives in building it."Carbusters

"One of the toughest things to do is to anticipate
discontinuity, to envisage a world - a life - beyond the car. The
authors practice this art of the impossible in a fascinating way,
opening up the social and sociological imagination for alternative
paths of modernization."Ulrich Beck, University of Munich

"A persuasive and readable summary of why motoring as we know it
is doomed. The authors systematically chart the new technologies,
oil shortages, environmental and other pressures changing the way
we travel and the world we live in. If you want to know what the
future might look like, this book is for you. Jeremy Clarkson is an
endangered species!"Steven Joseph, Executive Director, Campaign for Better
Transport

"After the Car is a useful contribution to the debate about the
role of the car which poses some interesting questions about its
future."Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth